Dampers and shock-absorbers are known which use a hydraulic fluid as the working medium to create damping forces to control or minimize shock and/or vibration. Typically, the damping forces are generated by a pressures resisting movement between operative components of the damper or shock absorber. One class of these devices includes magnetorheological (MR) fluid devices. MR devices may be of the "rotary-acting" or "linear-acting" variety. Known MR devices include linear dampers, rotary brakes, and rotary clutches. Each MR device employs a Magnetorheological (MR) fluid comprised of soft-magnetic particles dispersed within a liquid carrier. Typical particles include carbonyl iron, and the like, having various shapes, but which are preferably spherical and have mean diameters of between about 0.1 .mu.m to about 500 .mu.m. The carrier fluids include low viscosity hydraulic oils, and the like. In operation, these MR fluids exhibit a thickening behavior (a rheology change) upon being exposed to a magnetic field. The higher the magnetic field strength in the fluid, the higher the damping/restraining force or torque that can be achieved within the MR device.
MR fluid devices are disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/304,005 entitled "Magnetorheological Fluid Devices And Process Of Controlling Force In Exercise Equipment Utilizing Same", U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/613,704 entitled "Portable Controllable Fluid Rehabilitation Devices", U.S. application Ser. No. 08/674,371 entitled "Controllable Brake", U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/674,179 entitled "Controllable Vibration Apparatus" and U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,547,049, 5,492,312, 5,398,917, 5,284,330, and 5,277,281, all of which are commonly assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
Known MR devices advantageously can provide controllable forces or torques, as the case may be, but, as currently designed, such devices are comparatively expensive to manufacture. These devices typically include a housing or chamber that contains a quantity of magnetically controllable fluid, with a movable member, a piston or rotor, mounted for movement through the fluid in the housing. The housing and the movable member both include a magnetically permeable pole piece. A magnetic field generator produces a magnetic field across both pole pieces for directing the magnetic flux to desired regions of the controllable fluid. Such devices require precisely toleranced components, expensive seals, expensive bearings, and relatively large volumes of magnetically controllable fluid. The costs associated with such devices may be prohibitive to their use in certain applications, for example, washing machines and home exercise devices. Therefore, there is a long felt, and unmet, need for a simple and cost effective MR fluid device for providing variable forces and/or torques.
The foregoing illustrates limitations known to exist in present devices and methods. Thus it is apparent that it would be advantageous to provide an alternative directed to overcoming one or more of the limitations set forth above. Accordingly, a suitable alternative is provided including features more fully disclosed hereinafter.